JEROME SESSINI / AREVA

FROM THE TIME ARCHIVE Time to Choose As energy needs rocket, America must face down old demons and decide on a role for nuclear power. Surprise: it's gaining new respect [4/29/1991]

A scientist by training, Lauvergeon, 45, worked in the energy industry before landing in the corridors of political power. A product of the �lite, state-run graduate schools that produce and polish the mostly male corps of French civil servants, business brass and politicians, Lauvergeon is one of the rare women to have shattered France's glass ceiling. After a few years in the mining and atomic-energy industries, she joined President Fran�ois Mitterrand's administration in 1990, ultimately becoming deputy chief of staff and �sherpa� for G7 meetings.

In 1999 she became CEO of the state-owned nuclear-reprocessing-and-services firm Cogema, one of three units merged to create Areva. Lauvergeon these days races around the globe promoting French nuclear power. When she fights with environmentalists, she does so carefully, challenging antinuclear activists to square their position with their parallel call to combat climate change. Given the high price of oil, Lauvergeon's message never sounded better.

Lagarde chairs the global policy committee at Baker & McKenzie, the Chicago-based law firm

Oct. 11, 2004	May 22, 2000	March 26, 2001
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